Hardwood Heroes Sports
Second Half Play Lifts Warren Over Alexander
By: Anthony Marino
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ALBANY, Ohio – The Alexander Spartans (12-5, 7-1 TVC-Ohio) jogged into the locker room at halftime with a 30-24 lead over the Warren Warriors (11-6). Warren head coach Blane Maddox and his boys made crucial halftime adjustments resulting in disciplined basketball.
With four minutes left in the third quarter junior Kurt Taylor tied up the game, but Alexander answered back with a Caleb Easley three pointer making it 34-31 Spartans. That would be the last time the Spartans would lead as Warren edged past the Spartans by the final score of 57-47.
A Scary moment for the Spartans came with 5:26 left until halftime. Spartan freshman Kyler D’Augustino went up for a layup and hit the floor hard. A look of concern overtook Alexander head coach Jim Kearns as he dropped his clipboard on the floor and walked towards the injured D’Augustino. He was anchoring his knee, and a knee injury might have plagued another Spartan player. D’Augustino has stepped up big for the Spartans all season, especially now that senior point guard J.K. Kearns has been sidelined.
On January 24 against the Athens Bulldogs Kearns, arguably the leader of this Spartan squad, left the game with a knee injury and has been sidelined since. D’Augustino walked off on his own power to the locker room and would return in the start of the second half and finish with a game high 23 points as well as hauling in four rebounds.
“I just know my boys had my back, so I had to go back and play that game for them,” said D’Augustino after the game about returning.
Other top performers for the Spartans included seniors Lucas Markins and Caleb Terry. Markins put up 12 points and Terry finished with 9 points. Terry made his presence known in the paint, snagging 6 rebounds.
The difference maker in this game was Warren’s ability to incorporate a large portion of their team into the scoring mix. Eight Warriors were able to score and out of those eight, four scored in double digits. On the other hand, Alexander had four players that contributed to scoring and only two posted double digit numbers on the final score sheet.
In the fourth quarter Alexander began to run a tough 3-2 trap defense to force quick turnovers and hopefully lead to points on the other end of the floor. Warren countered by slowing the game down and moving the ball with precision passing, keeping it away from the Spartan defenders.
Alexander was forced to foul in order to stop the clock, sending the Warriors to the foul line. The Spartans were able to fight back and came within four points with 3:52 remaining in the game but were not able to take the lead.
Alexander will look to bounce back when they host Meigs, who is coming off of a 69-67 win against Athens on Tuesday, February 4.